Quadruple
by Scully22
Summary: when there is a quadruple death count, its up to elliot and olivia to find the criminal....SECRET TWIST...also EO...  Chapter 5 present
1. Neglected

**Chapter 1**

The Stabler household was busy Friday morning. Dickie and Lizzie got up late, and Kathy tried to get them dressed as quickly as she could. Maureen was being stubborn, and was angry at her mother. Kathleen had unfinished homework she needed help with. Kathy needed to get to work early that day, and Elliot needed to get down to the office. As Elliot made lunches for everyone, while he helped Lizzie get her breakfast, Kathleen came up to her dad. She tugged on her fathers coat to try and get his attention.

"Not right now" he said.

"Dad!" Kathleen nagged.

"What is it!" he shouted after a minute of her calling his name.

"I need help with my math" she pleaded.

"Why didn't you do it last night!"

"I didn't know how!"

"Why didn't you ask your mother?"  
"She told me to ask you!"

"Well why didn't you ask me last night?" He shouted as pulled a cup down with one hand for Lizzie, and kept spreading mayonnaise on the sandwiches with the other.

"I waited up for you! But you got home too late!" Kathleen pleaded again. Elliot sighed.

"Ok" he said. Kathy took over making sandwiches, while Maureen helped Dickie out. Elliot sat at the kitchen table with Kathleen.

"What is it?" he asked. She put the packet of paper in front of him. Before he could really look at it he spotted Dickie throwing food at Maureen.

"Dickie!" he shouted as he got up.

"Dad!" Kathleen followed him with the packet in hand.

"We can't do it right now" Elliot told her as he wiped food off of Dickie.

"But I need to turn it in this morning!"

"Kathleen!" Elliot shouted at her. She didn't like it when her dad yelled. She took a step back, he could see fear in her eyes. He wondered why she was so afraid of him, but didn't have time to dwell on it.

"We'll do it in the car" He told her quieter as she backed away to get her backpack.

"I'll take them to school" Kathy told Elliot over the noise the kids were making.

"No I promised to help Kathleen with her homework, you take Maureen and the twins I'll take Kathleen" he told Kathy. She nodded.

"Thanks" Kathy told him. She did need to get to work.

"Come on!" Kathy shouted as Maureen, Dickie, and Lizzie piled out the door. Kathy went to kiss Elliot on the cheek, he tried to do the same, but it felt awkward.

"Have a good day at work" Elliot told her taking a step back.

"You too" she said before running out the door. Kathleen came running down the stairs as Kathy pulled out of the driveway. She ran to the doorway and sighed.

"Mom forgot me again" Kathleen said. Elliot smiled.

"She didn't forget you, I'm taking you to school so we can figure out this math packet" Elliot said nicely as he sat down at the kitchen table tired.

"Your mom would never forget you" Elliot told her as Kathleen still looked out the doorway.

"How would you know" Kathleen muttered as she went out to her dad's car. Elliot let out a sigh before he got up. After he locked the house door he went to his car. He could tell Kathleen had been crying, he didn't know about what, but he figured it was better to leave her alone for right now. After he got on the road Elliot spoke up.

"So what's the trouble with your math?" he asked.

"I don't understand it. I never understand it." She told him frustrated.

"Well I'll help you out with this for now, but maybe we need to get you a tutor. A math tutor could really help" He told her. Kathleen expressed no emotion.

"…So what's the first problem?" Elliot asked.

"Ok, it says two hundred and forty-five, divided by six hundred and twenty-eight. But then you have to graph it on…" Kathleen was interrupted by Elliot's beeper.

"Hold on a second" He told her as he called the number that beeped him.

"What's going on?" Elliot asked.

"Get down here right away" Cragen told him.

"I'll be there in a few minutes" He told Cragen as he sped the car up.

"We're going to have to do this later, just tell your teacher to call me if she needs parent consent or whatever" Elliot said as he zoomed to her school. Kathleen sighed and got out of the car. He had gotten her to school late. Once she walked into the building the principal saw her and took her to the office. Elliot was long gone by then.

**TBC**


	2. Quadleen

**Chapter 2**

Elliot arrived at the station in good time and immediately went to his partner.

"What's going on?" he asked.

Olivia let out a deep breath. "Follow me," she said as she walked through the station. Elliot followed closely.

"Apparently there was a party last night," she began as they continued walking. "We think something went wrong, someone got mad… anyway there were three couples- all three men were shot and killed, two of the women were raped and then killed."

As they stood out in the bright sun, Elliot shook his head. "That's awful."

"When isn't it?" she asked as they got to the car and she got into the passengers side.

Slipping behind the wheel, he asked, "Where am I taking us?"

"Twenty-fourth and Central," she directed as she struggled with her seat belt.

He laughed at her predicament. "Sorry about that, Dickie was messing with it. Here," he said as he unbuckled and reached over her. She leaned against her seat to give him more room to reach around, and he untangled it for her.

"There you go," he smiled as he looked up at her, not realizing how close they were to each other.

"Thanks," she smiled back as he got his seat belt back on.

After a few minutes of nothing but the sounds of the city, Elliot glanced over at her and asked, "So who's at 24th and Central?"

"The apartment," Olivia told him matter-of-factly.

"Riiight" Elliot smiled before turning his attention back to the road.

With a glance of her own, she asked, "Why we're you late this morning?"

Rubbing his forehead with his left hand, he sighed, "Busy, busy morning. I had to help Kathleen with her homework, never did. I don't think she's very happy," Elliot admitted.

"What do you mean?" Olivia asked shifting her body in his direction.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, she makes these comments, about Kathy ignoring her, and Maureen not hanging out with her any more. I think she feels neglected."

"How old are your kids now?"

"Maureen is seventeen, Dickie and Lizzie are seven, and Kathleen is…oh god…" Elliot looked down at his steering wheel in shame. It took him a second to remember. "She's fourteen. No, thirteen."

Olivia nodded. "It sounds like she may be a little neglected right now, but that's not unusual."

"It isn't?"

"No. I mean, she's right in the middle, Maureen is practically eighteen, almost out of high school. And Dickie and Lizzie are at the very beginning, just starting to learn. But Kathleen is in the middle. She knows a lot, but isn't ready to learn more yet. She's starting high school soon, but other then that she's kind of alone right now," Olivia told him, thinking back to her own childhood. "When I was fourteen, I was so alone. I actually did meet a boy who was a junior in High School though… I lost my virg…" Olivia looked up at Elliot who looked scared that his daughter would do the same.

"I lost my virg-virg-…a…bin," Olivia stammered pitifully, as she tried to come up with something.

"You lost your 'virgabin'?" Elliot wondered.

"Yeah… it's uh slang for… vitamins?" Olivia looked at him with a fake smile, knowing she was fooling no one. Elliot laughed.

"My point is," she went on, "you know what will come with these teen years for Kathleen, but just because you know, and you've dealt with it before, you can't ignore her. She still wants your approval Elliot. You're her father," Olivia told him as she put her hand on his right knee. "You know what I'm sayin?"

They stopped at the red light and he nodded. He looked at her hand on him, then up at her.

"Thanks Liv" he said as he put his hand on top of hers.

The two got to the apartment after a half hour in traffic. They weren't in a rush, and it was nice to chat for awhile. Elliot told her things he hadn't talked to anyone about. But he still didn't know how to deal or talk about the awkwardness between him and Kathy.

Olivia got out of the car and buzzed the manager. He came and showed the detectives to the room.

"I could live in a place like this," Olivia said as she walked in and looked around. "Except for, of course, the blood and tarnished furniture."

"Alone?" Elliot asked putting latex gloves on.

She smirked as she put hers on, too. "Well… there's always an escort service."

He couldn't help but laugh before getting down to business. "You know how it went down?"

"Well from what Warner told me… here's how it 'went down'," she told him as she went over to the card table in the living room.

"Everyone was chatting, playing cards, having a good time," she explained. "Based on tests, Greg and Marsha sat here, Jack and Janet sat here, and Elliot and Olivia sat here," she told him as she showed the pairs of chairs next to each other.

He looked at her with a frown. "Elliot and Olivia?"

"Weird, I know," she agreed.

"Anyway," she continued, "there's two ways this could have happened. Either an ex-boyfriend or a gambling partner, someone like that, broke in. He wasn't prepared for this large a group, and shot the three men. He then tied down the three women. Raped them one at a time, and murdered them all except one. Now either he didn't have time, or he was some how connected or needed the last woman to stay alive, but he left her tied to that chair. Now the manager came in the next morning to see her cleaning up the place, and when he tried to help her, she screamed, probably trauma related, and he called the police."

"Is that the best we got right now?" Elliot asked after a second of thinking.

She shrugged. "Unless you have some other ideas, that's it."

"Who was the woman who survived?"

"Marsha," Olivia told him as she watched him deep in thought.

"Do we know who these other couples are and how they're related to Marsha?" he asked. Olivia nodded. Pulling out her notepad, she listed off the information. "Jack and Janet Johnson: Jack owns and is the director of a sales manufacturing company. Importing and exporting. Janet is assistant director of the same company on the exporting side."

"Both would have connections to foreign 'goods'," Elliot suggested. Olivia nodded.

"What about our doubles?" he asked.

She smiled then turned a few pages. "Olivia Hubert and Elliot Quadrado: Olivia is married to one of California's richest men. She apparently comes to New York to shop, and in the meantime, is actually having an affair with Mr. Quadrado." She looked up at Elliot.

"Well that's a relief. Sounds like you couldn't be any more different," Elliot smiled.

Smiling again, she continued to read. "Elliot Quadrado resides in New York. He has two condos, one in downtown, and one right on the beach. He works for a company that makes websites for other companies."

"We're definitely not the same," he confirmed, and when he saw Olivia waiting for an explanation, he winked, "I'm crap with computers." He pointed to her notepad. "What about Marsha and Greg?"

"Marsha and Greg Langsam: Marsha and Greg started a company back in the nineties, after two years it was apparently closed. Then another year later they were back in business with the same company. Tuna."

"Tuna?"

"Tuna. And when I say tuna, I mean tuna," Olivia smiled. "They're the owners of all the tuna in New York."

"I had tuna for lunch yesterday," Elliot looked at her almost worried.

Olivia smiled wider. "Well, we're trying to find the connections between these couples, apart from their jobs, so I don't think you have to worry about a big tuna conspiracy." He made a face at her which she pretended to ignore. "How are they connected? Where would they have met? And why they would meet here?"

Elliot looked around the place. "You know, I see bowels for chips and cups for drinks but there are no beer bottles or cans in the trash can. And I don't see a bag for chips in any of these cupboards," Elliot said as Olivia followed him into the kitchen.

"What if this was a plan?" he raised an eyebrow, thinking. "The couples would meet, like it was a social party, but it wasn't. Maybe the person who raped and murdered these women, knew these people were meeting. Maybe he was in on it, or maybe he was trying to blackmail them or take revenge."

"You know in these types of cases, it seems we're usually looking for a woman. Someone behind the scenes," Olivia suggested. "A rich woman like Olivia or Marsha or Janet could have easily paid someone to do this. I think we have to keep an open mind about it all for right now."

Elliot nodded in agreement as his phone went off.

"Stabler."

"Elliot, it's Cragen," the voice identified itself. "We need you back here."

"What's up?"

"We found Janet Johnson's records. There is some interesting stuff here. We're going to need you both to get through all this."

Elliot jerked his head in the direction of the door. Olivia took the hint. "Okay, we'll be down in a few."

Once he had hung up, she asked, "What's going on?"

"That was the Cap. He wants us back at the station. Looks like we've got some work to do."

Elliot took off his gloves and they walked out of the apartment.

**TBC**


	3. Night and Day

**Chapter 3**

Olivia and Elliot got back to the station quickly. They spent at least eight hours going through papers and notes trying to make sense of them and connect them to the case. They still had three more boxes to go. Like Elliot, Olivia had cleared off most the stuff on her desk, and they spread the papers all over. They'd find bits and pieces of what looked like something they could use, but it always led to a dead-end.

Cragen came out of his office, ready to head home. "Why don't you two get out of here?" he suggested.

Olivia looked at Elliot then turned back to Cragen. "I want to finish this."

"Yeah, me too," Elliot agreed.

Cragen sighed. He was glad his detectives worked hard, but sometimes they worked too hard. "Promise me you two will take at least a two hour break, and a nap," he pleaded. When he got a nod from both of them, he said, "Okay. I'm gone. Night."

Another hour passed, though by now, if asked, neither could have said what the time was. Olivia leaned back in her chair and yawned widely. She rubbed her eyes and sniffled a few times as Elliot leaned back in his chair, too. Everyone was gone and the darkness of the squad room only made things worse. Luckily they had set up some bright lights around their desks.

Olivia yawned again as she spoke, "Want some coffee?"

Elliot paused for a second then shook his head. "No. Why don't you go take a nap? I'll work on this and after you get rested we'll switch," he suggested.

"Are you sure?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, go on." He looked back down to the papers in front of him, and sat at the edge of his seat. Olivia watched him a minute, trying to figure out if she wanted to work more or take a nap. It was the tiredness in his eyes that finally made her say, "Come on, El." She stood up and gestured towards the crib with her chin. "We promised Cragen we'd take at least a two hour break _and_ a nap" She turned off one of the lights. As she headed over to another light, she pretended to be stern. "And I won't be able to sleep if I know you're up working," she pointed at him as she turned off the light with her other hand.

He showed her a small smile and got up to turn off the third light. There was still enough light to see, but they made their way carefully. Walking with eyes heavy with sleep, they made it to the bunk room and Elliot closed the door behind them. There were other detectives in the room, more than usual. It had been a long night for many on the force. Olivia crawled onto one of the beds and lay on her side.

Elliot was going to go to the bunk above her, but before he did, she grabbed his wrist gently. "Save that bed for another officer," she told him and he nodded.

He lay down next to her, and as he did she turned on to her other side to face him. She closed her eyes and was asleep quickly. A thought about Kathy and the kids crossed his mind, but he was too tired to do anything about it now. Grabbing a blanket and pulling it over Olivia, he closed his eyes, falling asleep on his back. After she knew he was asleep, she smiled softly and pulled half the blanket over to him, then leaned close.

"Get some rest, El," she whispered before turning on her other side and falling back to sleep.

"Detectives!" Cragen called in mother-like voice, as he opened the door to the bunk room. "Rise and shine," he smiled as Olivia opened her eyes.

She squinted at the light that shone into the room. Cragen closed the door behind him as Olivia sat up. Raising a hand to her hair, she could only imagine what she looked like. Her clothes were crinkled as if she had tossed and turned all night, but she could tell by the way she felt that she hadn't. The beds in the crib would never win awards for comfort, but she felt more rested than she had in a long time. And it seemed as though she wasn't the only one. Elliot was still sleeping next to her.

"Hey, El," she shook him gently, trying to wake him.

"Huh?" he squinted.

"Yeah, that was exactly my first reaction," she smiled as he started to wake up.

"Nice hair," he said as he sat up.

"You, too," she grinned and with a dopy face expression, he grinned back.

"Here, you got something on you," he said as he rubbed his thumb against her cheek to wipe off the mark.

"Thanks" she smiled as she got off of the bed. They both stood and stretched, backs and necks creaking and popping.

"What time is it?" Elliot asked as Olivia tried to clear her blurry eyes.

"Nine." He looked just as surprised as she had been. "I know," she said at his unspoken words.

"Ladies first." He gestured to the door.

She smiled but stopped before she opened the door. "Elliot?"

"Yeah?"

Olivia paused, almost nervous to speak. "About Kathleen... you need to give her space as much as attention… as much as she needs. The trick is trying to find how much attention and how much space you should give her. That make sense?"

Elliot nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, it does. Thanks, Liv." Nudging her with his shoulder, and his nice smile, he asked, "Where would I be without you?"

She nudged him back and joked, "Nowhere."

He paused in the doorway with a frown, _where would he be?_ Then snapped out of it and went to catch up.

"Goooood mornin'!" Munch smiled sarcastically as Olivia and Elliot walked to their desks.

"Well at least you're awake," Elliot muttered.

"And lovin' life," Munch leaned back comfortably in his chair.

"Oh, shut up," Olivia grumbled and Elliot laughed.

Cragen walked over to the group of detectives. "Okay. Today, Munch, Fin you two will finish these three boxes; Olivia and Elliot, you two are going to go chat with Marsha Langsam."

Getting their orders, the group quickly split up.

"I didn't call Kathy last night," Elliot said as they drove to Marsha's apartment. Olivia looked at him a little surprised, not knowing he had something on his mind.

"Well, I'm sure she knows she can't always hear from you- that your job is busy and time consuming," she suggested.

Elliot sighed. "Yeah, she knows all that…"

Olivia waited for him to say something else but when he didn't, she asked, "So… what's bothering you?"

He took in a deep breath and scratched just above his eyebrow before continuing. "She didn't call me. In the past, whenever she didn't hear from me, she'd call."

Olivia frowned, wondering where this was going. "Well, maybe she had a long day at work and was just as tired as you were last night," she made another suggestion.

Elliot shook his head, "No. She didn't call because she doesn't know how."

Her frown only deepened. "What do you mean?"

"Never mind," Elliot said abruptly.

Concerned, Olivia tilted her head and promised, "Elliot, you can tell me, I'm here to listen."

He turned to look at her and watched her as she waited for him to say something, anything. Somehow, at that moment, she looked different. He noticed her skin and her eyes, but it was her lips that held his gaze. He felt himself starring… he was still staring when a car horn startled them both, and before he could really think about what he was feeling, he turned away. He drove on, his eyes straight ahead, looking at anything but her.

They arrived at Marsha's apartment and she greeted them solemnly. Elliot shook her hand, "We're sorry for your losses."

Marsha nodded and quietly responded, "Thank you."

Olivia closed the door behind her then sat next to Elliot on the couch, while Marsha sat in a chair facing them.

"We need to ask you a few questions," Olivia began as she pulled out her note pad. Marsha nodded, taking a tissue box off the side table and putting it on her lap.

"How did you know the two other couples?" Olivia asked, her pen ready at hand. Marsha took in a few deep breaths in an effort to steady her shaky voice, when Elliot's phone rang.

"Excuse me," he apologized, getting up and moving near the front door.

Olivia put her hand on Marsha's knee, "It's okay, take your time." Marsha sniffled into her Kleenex. Olivia turned around to see if everything was okay with Elliot and he motioned for her to come over. She left Marsha after a hesitation, then stood beside Elliot. "What's going on?" she asked quietly.

"Kathleen's school. She's in the office for something or other…" Elliot shook his head.

Olivia could tell he wasn't ready to deal with Kathleen, "Why don't you let me go? You stay here, take your time with Marsha, and I'll straighten out what's going on at Kathleen's school," Olivia suggested.

It was definitely a relief, but he didn't want Olivia to do anything she didn't want to. "You don't mind?"

She put her hand on his cheek and smiled. "Consider it done." She turned to leave the apartment, and as her hand slid off his cheek he grabbed her wrist as she had done to him the night before. She turned around and waited for him to say something. He stared at her for a second.

"Thank you," he said simply, but Olivia could feel it was from the heart. Squeezing her wrist one last time, he smiled and let her go.

**TBC**


	4. hikeschool

**Chapter 4 **

The traffic was so awful that Olivia got to Kathleen's school a half hour later. She walked into the main office, knowing where it was due to prior cases at the school, and a woman came up to her. "May I help you?"

Olivia nodded, "Yes, I'm here about Kathleen Stabler."

The woman chewed her gum loudly. "That office," she pointed.

"Thank you." Olivia went to the office.

"Olivia!" Kathleen cheered and wrapped her arms around her tightly.

Olivia hugged back with a smile, "Hey Kathleen! So what's going on here?"

"I'm Mrs. Boyer, the principal," a woman stood up and held her hand out. Olivia walked over to her desk.

"I think we've met before, I'm detective Olivia Sta… Olivia Benson," Olivia shook the woman's hand, quickly correcting herself.

Mrs. Boyer sat down, "Kathleen, why don't you tell her what you told me."

Sitting next to Olivia, Kathleen explained, "Ok, two days ago Dad said he would help me with my math. But he had to get to work so he dropped me off and I was late for school. Mrs. Boyer took me to the office and I told her that and Dad could come in yesterday and explain what happened. But Dad didn't come home, and now I'm in even more trouble."

Olivia nodded, "Why don't you go wait outside, let me and Mrs. Boyer talk"

"Okay. No prob," Kathleen said before she left the room.

"I can explain all this," Olivia told the principal, feeling like she was back in school.

Mrs. Boyer nodded, "Please do."

After a short pause Olivia began, "Elliot, her father, has been under a lot of pressure lately. He was going to help Kathleen with her homework, but like she said, we spent an all nighter at work last night and things are kind of overwhelming for him right now."

"Well, that is bad, but he is a parent, and he needs to take care of his children. I've never seen him at a parent conference, or a school event. I've only met him once when he was here for one of your cases," Mrs. Boyer told Olivia as she folded her hands on her desk.

"He's trying. He really is. But for now is there anyway to clear this up for Kathleen? Make sure it's not on her record?" Olivia wondered.

Mrs. Boyer thought for a second before replying, "I'll talk to her math teacher, see if she can still get turn it in, and as for being late… I'll let that go for now."

Olivia took in a deep breath of satisfaction. "Thank you so much."

Mrs. Boyer simply nodded, "You and Kathleen wait in here until I get back."

Kathleen came into the room a minute later and Olivia told her what Mrs. Boyer had said. Olivia figured it might be a bit of a wait and thought it may be a good chance to see how Kathleen was doing.

"So Kathleen, you like school?" Olivia asked.

"I hate it" she snarled earnestly.

Olivia frowned and asked, "Why?"

Kathleen sighed, "It's awful. No one likes me, my teachers hate me, I'm not good at anything…"

Olivia broke in, "Now you know that's not true. And even if it were, are you going to let all that stop you?"

"Stop me?"

"Yeah! Are you going to let some schoolmates, and teachers tell you you're a failure? That doesn't sound like the Kathleen I know."

Kathleen stuttered a few times in her own defense, then let out another exhausting breath. "It's different now," she spoke quietly.

Olivia was glad they were getting somewhere, she hoped she could get Kathleen to open up. "Why?"

"…Dad… and Mom." Kathleen looked away.

Olivia was confused. She thought the girl would say boys, or friends changing, "What about your parents?"

"They're different. They… I saw something," Kathleen finally admitted.

Olivia was about to ask what when Mrs. Boyer came back in, "Good news. Kathleen, you will finish your math right now with Miss Benson, and turn it in. And may I suggest, if you don't understand any of your homework, talk to your teachers- that's what they're there for." Mrs. Boyer looked Kathleen straight in the eyes. Kathleen nodded as did Olivia.

Breathing in a huge sigh of relief, Olivia asked, "Where can we go to work on this?"

"Well, school is almost finished now, take it home, finish it, and bring it back tomorrow."

Olivia nodded and thanked her again. "We really appreciate this, Mrs. Boyer. It won't happen again, I promise." Turning to Kathleen, she said, "Come on you." As they headed out to the car, Olivia handed Kathleen her phone. "Why don't you call your dad and ask him where he is. If he's still at Marsha's, we can pick him up."

Elliot was still at Marsha's, but Fin was with him, so Olivia and Kathleen headed to the station. Olivia figured she would help Kathleen finish her math so they could get it done and not have Elliot fret over it, and then she could take Kathleen home. When they got to the station, Elliot still hadn't returned, so they both went up to a small room to attempt the homework.

Olivia stood up and winked, "I'll go get some scrap paper- God knows we're going to need it!" Kathleen wanted to get some of the work done, try and show Olivia she _could_ do it. When Olivia came back, with a handful of paper and a handful of pencils, she noticed Kathleen had attempted the math but hadn't succeeded.

"It's hard," Kathleen whined.

Olivia shined a smile and sat down beside the young girl. Handing her one of the newly sharpened pencils, she said, "Let's try it together."

At last Elliot and Fin arrived at the station, with much good news.

Cragen walked up to the two. "So what did you find out?"

"More then we thought we would," Elliot replied, with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

Cragen's eye brow lifted a bit. "And by that you mean?"

"We think she's lyin'," Fin interrupted.

The captain frowned and asked, "Why would she lie?"

Fin and Elliot shrugged. It was Elliot who answered, "Just what we were trying to figure out." After a second he and Fin heard something that almost sounded like laughing.

Looking around, Fin tried to pinpoint the sound. "Who is that?"

"Oh, that's Olivia and Kathleen," Cragen answered, shaking his head in amusement. "They've been laughing like that for an hour now."

"Kathleen?" Elliot had forgotten about the whole situation at her school. Angry with himself, he walked up the stairs to see Olivia and Kathleen still trying to figure out the homework. He stayed out of sight for a second, it had been the first time in a long time he'd seen Kathleen having such a good time. It was nice to watch Olivia, too, rarely did he see her laughing or smiling so much. He could tell Olivia cared for Kathleen as if the girl was her own, and it seemed Kathleen counted Olivia as part of the family, too.

"Daddy?" Kathleen called out as she noticed a figure on the stairwell.

Elliot smiled and walked up the rest of the way. "Hey you! What's going on? What happened at the school?"

"Olivia fixed it all," Kathleen told him and smiled at Olivia.

Elliot looked at Olivia and couldn't help but smile, too. "Oh really?"

"It was nothing really," Olivia filled him in. "It was all a misunderstanding in the first place."

Elliot nodded. "So what are you two doing now?" he looked to see what all the scrap papers were for. Olivia tried to stop him but he was quicker and grabbed a pile of the papers before she could.

"Oh, this is interesting, I see you two started working on the math… but oh what's this… not a very good picture of a dog… oh, but it has a name, aw, his name is Elliot. How ironic," He looked at Olivia and she started to turn red.

"Olivia drew that one," Kathleen told him proudly.

He smiled, "I'm sure she did."

"Hey…" Olivia tried to think up of a distraction, "We got to work on your daughter's math here, so stop bothering us while we are working," Olivia grabbed the pile of papers out of his hands. He grinned, holding on to the one with the picture of the dog.

Elliot started to turn away to leave, but couldn't help adding, "I love how you define 'working'," Olivia rolled her eyes at him with a big smile on her face.

After he got down the stairs he could hear them starting to work on the math again. He looked at the picture the two had drawn. Some of it was doodling, some was hardly what you could call art but it was all wonderful in Elliot's eyes. He smiled when he saw 'drawn by; Kat & Liv' on the bottom, like a professional painter would do. What a pair they made.

**TBC**


	5. shot glasses

**Chapter 5**

Elliot took his daughter home that night, but had to go back to work.

"Thanks for helping Kathleen out, and fixing things at her school" Elliot said when Olivia and him were alone in the squad room.

Olivia smiled, but it soon went away, "I've been thinking about something, something I wanted to ask you about"

He nodded, "shoot."

"You said something about Kathy to me, about how she didn't call- and I didn't understand why you thought she didn't call on purpose… I talked to Kathleen for a little bit…" Olivia really wanted to talk to Elliot about what was going on, help him figure things out, but her cell phone always went off at the wrong time.

She answered it stubbornly, "Benson… oh, Kathleen… don't cry…" Olivia tried to comfort Kathleen as Elliot sat up, "…No, your dad isn't around…" Olivia spoke as she stood up to leave, when Elliot grabbed her arm.

"What's going on!" he had a right to demand. Olivia covered the phone so Kathleen couldn't hear what she was saying to him.

"Don't worry, it's just a girl thing" She told him as she smiled and put her hand lightly on his cheek like she had before. He stared into her eyes as she peered in to his. She rubbed her thumb lightly on his cheek, not realizing, and he closed his eyes. It was relaxing. Her thumb slowly moved closer to his lips until she realized what she was doing. Not that what she was doing was bad, but as he opened his eyes she felt a pull. Like he was pulling her closer with just his eyes, and she turned away quickly.

"Don't worry about Kathleen, I'll help her out" she told him before closing the door to a room she could talk privately in. Kathleen talked to Olivia for awhile, and since it was late already, the two detectives were alone at the precinct again.

"Is everything ok!" Elliot stood as Olivia came back into the room.

She sat down at her desk and nodded, "…she had a few things on her mind, I think we're getting closer, and that's typical for a girl to depend on a mature woman" Olivia smiled.

"Woman? yes. Mature?..." Elliot questioned.

Olivia's moth dropped open "Hey!" she leaned on her desk to look at him, sitting across from her.

Elliot leaned on his desk too, "Well from what I saw today, I wouldn't call it being 'mature'."

Olivia leaned back in her chair again, "That wasn't being immature, that was having fun" she corrected him.

"Something I don't see you getting enough of" Elliot raised his eyebrows.

"Hey that can go both ways. When's the last time you've taken a vacation?" Olivia folded her fingers together and tilted her head.

"Well I have a perfect explanation" He told her.

"Uh huh" she muttered, "and that would be?" she waited his answer.

"I don't _need_ a vacation" he told her leaning on his desk again.

Olivia lifted her head understanding, "So, you're so full of yourself that now you don't want a vacation, you don't even _need_ a vacation. Is that right?" she smiled.

Elliot leaned in closer, "exactly" he smirked.

"Well Elliot Stabler, we just found three new things in common between us" She smiled holding her hand out to shake his.

"And what are these three common things?" He asked placing his hand onto hers.

"We don't need vacations…" she started and he nodded.

"We're both full of ourselves, and we're both utterly immature" she smiled.

"Well, not only do we need to shake on this, we need to drink to this" he let go of her and went to Cragen's office. Olivia got up and followed him to the room, he shut the door behind her.

"What are you doing!" Olivia whispered. Elliot snuck around behind Cragen's desk and pulled out a bottle of liquor and two shot glasses.

"Elliot!" Olivia got wide-eyed.

"Shhh" He sat next to her and poured the liquor into the shot glasses on the desk. He held up his small glass, and she held up hers.

"Cheers to our new common interests" he smiled as they clinked their glasses against each others.

"Cheers to Kathleen" Olivia said.

Elliot smiled "Good one". He held his glass back up again, "Cheers to Cragen's secret stash of alcohol."

"I got one more…" She spoke seriously, "Cheers to us". Elliot nodded after a pause, then pushed his glass against hers and they both threw down the rest of what was in their glasses.

**A few hours later**

Olivia and Elliot sat in the chairs in Cragen's office still. They had practically finished the whole bottle of liquor, and both held on to their almost empty glasses.

"so… he asked me to the dance. I was so happy. So we get there right, and his ex-girlfriend comes up to us and they 'rekindle'. He leaves me right. Well one of my friends had a cousin and he needed a date. He was handsome. But he tried to have sex with me, and I ended up pepper-spraying him. So I'm at the party, alone, and this other guy comes up to me and asks me to dance. So we're dancing, having a good time, and before I know it we're going out to his car… and that's how I lost my virginity…" Olivia looked down at her glass a little saddened.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" Elliot spoke quietly. Olivia looked up at him with a smile, "sure".

"When you lost your… when you had sex for the first time… was it how you thought it be?"

Olivia took in a deep breath, "not one bit. I had always imagined it to be something special, something that would make me feel a certain way… it was just sex though."

Elliot nodded, "I thought I was the only one who felt that way." She looked up at him, tilting her head, he knew that was a sign of compassion and concern.

He took in a deep breath, "You know, when you're a guy there's standards. I belonged to a group of guys who were tough, and were partiers… I couldn't say I didn't like it. Because I did like it, I enjoyed it, but it wasn't what I had hoped it would be" He looked down at his glass this time. Olivia nodded understanding.

"I've gone out with a lot of men, slept with some… it's never what I hope it to be. So I imagine it being awful, just to make it seem better…maybe we want too much from something that isn't real." Olivia suggested.

Elliot looked up at her. Then looked away with a smile.

"What!" Olivia smiled at him.

"This is going to sound stupid…" Elliot began, "But… do you believe in… in…" he stopped talking. He leaned forward closer to her. She didn't know what to think. It looked as though he was going to kiss… but he moved his lips to her ear. "Love" he said quietly, almost trying to ignore that he said it. He pulled away a little to look her in the eyes. She could tell that he could see into her, that he could see into her mind, and that he knew what she was going to say.

She licked her lips thinking, "I think after so long of not loving, people can no longer love" she told him as she turned her head away. Elliot nodded as he leaned back in his chair.

"Do you?" she wondered looking at him again. He threw down the last of his drink, "no."

**The next morning**

Cragen got to the office a little late the next morning. Munch watched him as he came in, obviously tired. He leaned back in his chair, "You ok?"

"Don't mess with me today" Cragen muttered.

Munch put his hands in the air, "Oh-kay."

Cragen looked around, "Where's Olivia and Elliot?"

"Haven't seen them" Munch turned to Fin, and he nodded, not seeing them either.

"Would one of you please find where they are" He asked as he went to his office. He opened the door, not noticing the guests slumbering in his chairs. It wasn't until he sat down and looked up to see Olivia and Elliot snoozing. It startled him at first but then he let out a little laugh.

"Hey! Tweedledum, Tweedledee- wake up!" He said loudly.

Elliot opened his eyes a little, "hey Liv"

"Huh" Olivia turned away from him. He sat up putting his head in his hands, Cragen got some files out to work on as the two woke up.

"Liv" Elliot repeated.

"Just five more minutes honey" Olivia waved her hand at him. He smiled a little, still dead tired.

"Hey" He put his hand on her knee. She snapped out of her sleep and looked at him. She realized where she was and sat up gripping her head like he had.

"I can see you liked my liquor" Cragen said as the two tried to straighten out their clothes.

"Sorry about that" Olivia said as she stood up. "Yeah sorry" Elliot felt bad.

"Hey, it's not like I was going to drink it" Cragen smiled. "I think you two need a little sleep. And I don't mean in the bunk room or in my office, why don't you both go home"

"I'm perfectly fine" Olivia told him and Elliot nodded.

"You two need to learn when enough is enough." Cragen warned them as his phone rang.

Elliot and Olivia started to leave, to give him some privacy, when Cragen called to Elliot. "Yeah?" Elliot turned back around to face Cragen.

"It's your wife" Cragen handed him the phone. After Elliot paused, looking at Olivia, he took the phone. She left and went out to the squad room.

A few minutes later Elliot came out, "top of the morning to ya" Munch smiled. Elliot rolled his eyes, as he grabbed his coat.

"Where you going?" Olivia asked.

"I got to take Kathleen to school" He told her.

Olivia nodded, "want me to?"

"No I got this one" he said turning back around to leave, when he stopped again, "thanks though" he finished before he left the building.

**Elliot's House**

"Mom said you didn't want to go with her" Elliot arrived at his home, which he hadn't been at in a couple days. Kathleen shrugged her shoulders.

"Why is that?" Elliot questioned sternly. "Tell me."

"You don't get it dad… Olivia gets it… you don't and mom doesn't" Kathleen turned away from him.

"I'm really trying to understand Kathleen, but it's hard to try and understand when I don't know what's wrong" Elliot spoke quieter.

Kathleen didn't speak for a minute, "if I could pick any dad in the world, it wouldn't be you" Kathleen snarled as she headed for the front door, to go to his car. She stopped and turned back to him again, "and it wasn't that I didn't want to go with mom, she forget me…again" Kathleen shook her head and went out to his car.

It was like re-living the days before, he went out to his car and could tell she had been crying again. While he took her to school he spoke up, "you want to call Olivia?"

Kathleen turned to him and then looked away, "We can't use cell phones at school"

Elliot nodded, "Well you could call her now, I promise not to listen, I'll turn on the radio…" He just wanted his daughter to feel better.

"If it's ok with you dad, I want to ask Olivia if I can spend the night at her apartment" Kathleen told him more then asking.

"Well… lately me and Olivia have been working late, as you know, but Cragen does want us to get some rest. Here" He said giving her his cell. Kathleen called Olivia and immediately showed a better side to her. She smiled and laughed and Elliot tried his best not to listen. After she hung up and gave the phone back to her dad she seemed in a bit of a better mood.

"I'm sorry Dad" Kathleen spoke up as he pulled up to the school.

Elliot turned to her with a smile, "Don't be sorry. I have to admit I don't know what's going on with you right now, but know that I'm here for you no matter what, ok?" She nodded and he kissed her on the forehead, "Now go dot some t's and cross some i's" he smiled and she smiled back.

**TBC**


End file.
